Tag Archives: coupe

1924 Aster

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1924 Aster 18/50HP Coupe

Offered by Bonhams | Beaulieu, U.K. | September 7, 2013

1924 Aster 1850HP Coupe

Photo – Bonhams

Aster started as an engine-building company in Wembley, England. They were building licensed versions of French engines and moved to aircraft engines during WWI, when they acquired the name Aster.

In 1922, they started building luxury automobiles. The 18/50hp was their first model and it was built from 1922 through 1924. It uses a 2.6-liter straight-six making 50 horsepower. They were expensive and bought by well-known people such as the man who would later become King George VI.

In 1924, the engine was upgraded and the model became the 20/55. In 1927, the company merged with Arrol-Johnston and the Aster name disappeared after 1930. This is a car from a short-lived and rarely-heard of marque. Only about 170 Asters were ever built and this is one of two known to survive (both are in this sale and the other one is a half-restored project). This one is in original, unrestored condition and should sell for between $28,000-$37,000 – which seems like a bargain considering it was an expensive car when new and it’s the only one like it left. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams’ sale.

Update: Sold $39,413.

Update II: Sold, Brightwells Classic & Vintage, April 2017, $32,292.

The 1st Ferrari 400 Superamerica

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1959 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Coupe Speciale by Pinin Farina

Offered by Gooding & Company | Monterey, California | August 17-18, 2013

1959 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Coupe Speciale

If you compare this Ferrari 400 Superamerica to the other one we had featured in the past, you would see that the name “Aerodinamico” is very accurate to describe that car – especially in comparison to this one. This car looks downright boxy by comparison – but it also looks like it has been italicized – like the whole thing is leaning forward, itching to grab a gear and go.

This car was bought new by Gianni Agnelli – then-chairman of Fiat (a company that his family founded). The 400 Superamerica was the follow-up to the 410 Superamerica. It uses a 4.0-liter V-12 making a serious 340 horsepower. This was the first one built.

The styling by Pinin Farina is one-of-a-kind. Agnelli requested that it look like a Ferrari – and it does – but there are custom touches all around. He sold it in 1962 and it quickly became owned by actress Anita Ekberg – who thankfully never drove it through a fountain. It bounced around between owners after 1967 and in the early 1980s was donated to the Harrah Collection. The restoration was completed in 2004 under the care of its current owner.

Only 47 Ferrari 400 Superamericas were built and this is both the first one and the only one with a body like this – not to mention its unique and interesting ownership history. It should sell for between $3,750,000-$4,500,000. Click here for more info and here for more of Gooding & Company’s auction lineup.

Update: Not sold.

S/N: 1517-SA

One-Off Ferrari 250 Europa by Vignale

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1953 Ferrari 250 Europa Coupe by Vignale

Offered by Bonhams | Carmel, California | August 16, 2013

1953 Ferrari 250 Europa Coupe by Vignale

Photo – Bonhams

The Ferrari 250 Europa was the first road car variant of the Ferrari 250 – the model line that pushed Ferrari over the edge from race car builder who built road cars to road car builder who builds race cars.

This particular Europa was bodied with a one-off body by Vignale and shown at the 1954 New York Auto Show. It was purchased from Ferrari by Luigi Chinetti – the longtime U.S. importer for Ferrari and the man responsible for introducing the brand to America. He had the car painted red for the auto show. Chinetti owned the car for about five years before selling it. It bounced around and ended up in California – where it was painted purple and a Chevy V8 was installed.

A model-correct, 200 horsepower 3.0-liter V12 is in the car now. The car was bought in unrestored, original and slightly modified/damaged repaired condition in 2004-ish by Tom Shaughnessy, renowned Ferrari rescuer.

In 2009, the car went to its current owner in Switzerland, who painstakingly restored it to the exact look it had on the Auto Show stand in 1954. Only 20 250 Europas were built (not to be confused with the 250 Europa GT). Only one of them has a body that looks like this. It is expected to sell for between $2,800,000-$3,400,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams’ Quail Lodge Auction.

Update: Sold $2,805,000.

Update II: Sold, RM Sotheby’s “Driven by Disruption,” December 2015, $3,300,000.

Update III: Sold, RM Sotheby’s “Leggenda e Passione,” September 2017, $3,440,850.

Edwards America

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1954 Edwards America Coupe

Offered by Auctions America | Burbank, California | August 1-3, 2013

1954 Edwards America Coupe

Like many before him and many after, Sterling Edwards made a lot of money in industry but loved cars and wanted to build the perfect one. Well, very few have actually succeeded doing that (Ferruccio Lamborghini is about the only one who comes to mind. Horacio Pagani, I guess, too) and many have lost more money than they’ve made.

Anyway, he built a car called the R-26, which was a race car originally and a road car later. It was not a sales success. His second try was the Edwards America. He took a Mercury chassis and hung a lightweight, attractive, Italian-looking fiberglass body on it and stuffed a V-8 under the hood. This car has a 5.2-liter V-8, making 205 horsepower.

Unfortunately, Edwards’ timing was off and he couldn’t compete with the Corvette or the Thunderbird (much less both). Only six Americas were built and this is believed to be car #2. It has known ownership history and was repaired from a fire many years ago. It shows some signs of age, but it’s super rare and should be worth about $100,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of Auctions America’s lineup in Burbank, California.

Update: Sold $66,000.

DB7 V12 Prototype

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1998 Aston Martin DB7 V12 Coupe Prototype

Offered by Bonhams | Newport Pagnell, U.K. | May 18, 2013

1999 Aston Martin DB7 V12 Coupe Prototype

The DB7 is my favorite Aston. I think it’s gorgeous – especially the convertibles. But when Ford first put the DB7 out – it was powered by a less-than-exciting straight-six. While that engine followed the long line of Aston sixes from back in the day, it was out of line with modern luxury car buyers.

Thankfully they figured this out and decided to stuff a 6.0-liter V12 underhood. The output was 420 horsepower – about a hundred more than the six. The car went on sale in March of 1999.

But prior to that, Aston had to do some development work on the new engine. Enter this car, chassis DP 001. It’s a DB7 – and it’s listed in the lot description as a “circa 1999” but I would assume that, if the car went on sale in March of 1999, they started development work in 1998 or prior – hence my labeling it as a 1998. Anyway, this car was used as a test mule with the new powerplant. Later, it was sold by a dealer (on behalf of Aston Martin) in England in 2004 under the condition it never be road-registered and used on track days only. And that’s what it has been doing. Recently, windows have been added and the interior cleaned up – but it currently is not running.

This is a chance to own a piece of Aston Martin history – a factory prototype (even though it isn’t too exciting, I still think it’s cool). It is expected to sell for between $23,000-$31,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of this auction’s lineup.

Update: Sold $34,663.

Update II: Sold, Bonhams, Newport Pagnell 2015 $35,612.

Aston Martin Bertone Jet

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1960 Aston Martin DB4GT “Jet” by Bertone

Offered by Bonhams | Newport Pagnell, U.K. | May 18, 2013

1960 Aston Martin DB4GT Jet Coupe by Bertone

The year 2013 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of Aston Martin. It’s only appropriate that the rarest and one of the most desirable examples of Aston’s early GT cars would come up for sale to cap off a year of celebrations.

The DB4 was introduced in 1958 to replace the DB Mark III. At the end of 1959, Aston introduced the DB4GT – a sporting, lightweight version of the grand touring car. The engine was an upgraded 3.7-liter straight-six making 302 horsepower – a 60+ horsepower bump over the stock car. The factory-bodied GTs used a body designed by Carrozzeria Touring. They also made for successful race cars.

The next iteration of the DB4GT was made by Zagato. They were even lighter and had a very racy body and are highly sought after today. And then there is this car. The only DB4GT bodied by Bertone. It’s a steel body and it was actually penned by a young man just getting his start at Bertone: Giorgetto Giugiaro. The car resided in Lebanon before coming to the U.S. In the 1980s it was discovered by the chairman of Aston Martin and it was taken back to the factory.

The restoration – which was immense – was completed by Aston Martin in 1988 and the car has racked up over 35,000 miles since. It’s being offered for sale for the first time in nearly 30 years (the time before that spent mostly sitting out of the public eye). Only one was built. The name “Jet” was acquired over the years and it is speculated that Bertone wanted to build a run of these cars, but the premiere of the car was overshadowed by the debut of the Jaguar E-Type at the same show. Talk about bad luck!

The pre-sale estimate is $4,300,000-$5,900,000. That’s a big range but high-dollar cars like this usually aren’t even assigned a reserve. It’s nice to Bonhams to do so, though. Click here for more info and here for more from Bonhams’ 14th annual Aston Martin auction.

Update: Sold $4,897,334.

Superamerica Coupe Aerodinamico

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1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Coupe Aerodinamico by Pininfarina

Offered by RM Auctions | Lake Como, Italy | May 25, 2013

1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica SWB Coupe Aerodinamico by Pininfarina

The Ferrari Superamerica line of cars was the top-of-the-line model from an already top-of-the-line manufacturer. They used big V-12 engines and many had custom bodywork. They were intended for Ferrari’s most elite clients.

The 410 Superamerica was a super-fast, super-serious grand tourer. In 1959, Ferrari switched from the 5.0-liter V-12 to the 4.0-liter V-12 and the 400 Superamerica was born. The powerplant in this car makes 340 horsepower. It could do 160 mph and Enzo himself drove one. It was offered in two wheelbase lengths and it was the first Ferrari road car offered with disc brakes.

This car was sold new to the U.S. and features breathtaking bodywork from Pininfarina. The Coupe Aerodinamico body is just awesome. It’s both muscular and sleek – almost like a prototype of the forthcoming 500 Superfast. It passed through a number of owners in a number of different countries before being acquired by its current owner: Skip Barber.

Superamericas are some of the most collectible Ferraris. I’ve seen a few different numbers as far as production goes: I’ve seen “14” for the number of 400 Superamericas with this specific Pininfarina-designed body. RM says this is #12 of 36, but I’m unsure if they are referring to 400 Superamericas total, or just the SWB cars. Why am I unsure? Because I’ve also seen 47 as the number for total models built. Well there you go, the info is in there somewhere for you, make of it what you will. Oh, the price? A very large amount. Like between $2,500,000-$3,000,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.

Update: Sold $2,839,200.

Fiat 600 Viotti Coupe

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1957 Fiat 600 Coupe by Viotti

Offered by Coys | Ascot, U.K. | April 27, 2013

1957 Fiat 500 Coupe by Viotti

The Fiat 600 (or Seicento) is, as you might expect, the slightly larger big brother of the iconic Fiat 500. The 600 was actually introduced prior – two years prior – to the 500, making the Seicento the first rear-engined Fiat.

The “600” refers to the 636cc overhead valve straight-four that was put in the car from the start of production (larger engines would be available later on). It could do 68 mph and made about 28 horsepower. It was a city car – a car for the people – and sold over a million copies in the first six years of production alone. But what if you wanted something a little more stylish?

Enter Carrozzeria Viotti, the Turin-based coachbuilder founded in 1921. They were the first Italian coachbuilder to use an actual production line and while they built bodies for prewar classics like the Alfa Romeo 1500 and Lancia Dilambda, they’re post-war work centered on small cars like this or the Fiat 1100 Giardinetta. (Yeah, they built fancier stuff too). They turned a people’s car into an attractive little coupe here and ran off a few hundred of them, with only a handful in existence today.

This car is expected to sell for between $20,000-$25,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of the lineup from this sale.

Bugatti Superprofile

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1930 Bugatti Type 46 Superprofile Coupe

Offered by RM Auctions | Lake Como, Italy | May 25, 2013

1930 Bugatti Type 46 Superprofile Coupe

Photo – RM Auctions

I’ll start this off by saying that this is not an original Bugatti Superprofile Coupe. It is an original Bugatti Type 46, but the body has been redone in the style of Jean Bugatti’s famous Superprofile car.

The Type 46 uses a 5.4-liter straight-eight making 140 horsepower. The car originally had a four-door sedan body on it and sometime in the past 15 years, this stunning new body was constructed by Mr. Ken Haywood in Australia. The Coupe Profilée (as Jean’s original drawings were officially referred to) bodystyle was never applied by the factory to a Type 46. One acquired an original Profilée body in the 1960s and that car is in the Schlumpf Collection, never to see the light of day again. The first factory Profilée was on a 1935 Type 50, which was once owned by Bill Harrah. It is valued at about $2 million.

This car sold in March of 2012 for $1,017,500, which was perhaps a little high, considering that, while beautiful and probably better done than any original Bugatti body, it will never be a contender at places like Pebble Beach because it isn’t a period body. And owning a Bugatti like this is all about garnering awards and patting yourself on the back for being able to afford something beautiful that somebody else made.

In all, 450 Type 46s were built between 1929 through 1933. One has a real Profilée body on it from back in the day. This one has a new Profilée body. It’s definitely more valuable than some other Type 46s, but I kind of doubt it will bring the same kind of money it brought last year. But who knows. Click here for more and here for more from what’s shaping up to be a monster sale from RM in Italy.

Update: Sold $873,600.

Baldwin Motion Phase III Corvette

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1969 Chevrolet Corvette Baldwin Motion Phase III Coupe

Offered by Auctions America | Fort Lauderdale, Florida | March 22-24, 2013

1969 Chevrolet Corvette Baldwin Motion Phase III Coupe

Baldwin, Long Island-located Baldwin Chevrolet and Motion Performance joined forces in 1967 to build serious street machines. Baldwin Chevrolet sold the cars that they, and their partners, modified. All kind of Chevrolets could be had: Novas, Camaros, Chevelles and Corvettes.

They called their Phase III cars “supercars” and the term is apt. They guaranteed both an 11.5 second quarter mile time and a cruising speed of 120 mph. That’s some gearing! But then again, such gearing is made easy when the engine makes 600 horsepower. This car has a 7.9-liter (482-cid) V-8 “Elephant” motor making just such a number. It is the only engine like it known to exist.

This car is a 15,000 mile car from new and is well optioned. It is all original and is the only one like it. Rare, period one-off muscle cars like this used to bring ridiculous money about 10 years ago. The market has softened but this is still a very valuable car. Click here to read more and here for more from Auctions America in Ft. Lauderdale.

Update: Sold $136,400.